Species Suta nigriceps (Günther, 1863)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Hoplocephalus nigriceps Günther, A. 1863. Third account of new species of snakes in the collection of the British Museum. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 3 12: 348-365 [362].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH 1946.1.20.70, 'probably from Australia'.
• Denisonia nigrostriata brevicauda Mitchell, F.J. 1951. The South Australian reptile fauna. Part 1. Ophidia. Records of the South Australian Museum (Adelaide) 9: 545-557 [550].

  Type data:

   Holotype SAMA R3137, Fowler's Bay, SA.

 

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Storr, G.M. 1981. The Denisonia gouldii species-group (Serpentes: Elapidae) in Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum 8: 501-515

 

Generic Combinations

• Parasuta nigriceps (Günther, 1863). —
  Cogger, H.G. 2014. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia. Collingwood : CSIRO publishing 7th edition, pp. xxx+1033. [912]
• Suta nigriceps (Günther, 1863). —
  Maryan, B., Brennan, I.G., Hutchinson, M.N. & Geidans, L.S 2020. What’s under the hood? Phylogeny and taxonomy of the snake genera Parasuta Worrell and Suta Worrell (Squamata: Elapidae), with a description of a new species from the Pilbara, Western Australia. Zootaxa 4778(1): 1-47 [7]
• Unechis nigriceps (Günther, 1863). —
  Cogger, H.G., Cameron, E.E. & Cogger, H.M. 1983. Amphibia and Reptilia. In, Walton, D.W. (ed.). Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Canberra : Australian Government Publishing Service Vol. 1 vi + 313 pp. [238]
• Denisonia nigriceps (Günther, 1863). —
  Storr, G.M. 1981. The Denisonia gouldii species-group (Serpentes: Elapidae) in Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum 8: 501-515 [502]

 

Introduction

Difficult to distinguish from S. dwyeri where the two species overlap and further work is required across the distributions of the two species to clarify their relationships, see Maryan et al. (2020) for details.

 

Distribution

States

New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Australian Endemic.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NSW, SA, Vic, WA: Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Coolgardie (COO), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Riverina (RIV), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Warren (WAR)

Ecological Descriptors

Cryptozoic, nocturnal, predator, terrestrial.

Extra Ecological Information

Viviparous.

 

General References

Coventry, A.J. 1971. Identification of the black-headed snakes (Denisonia) within Victoria. Victorian Naturalist 88: 304-306 (general, in VIC, as Denisonia brevicauda)

Maryan, B., Brennan, I.G., Hutchinson, M.N. & Geidans, L.S 2020. What’s under the hood? Phylogeny and taxonomy of the snake genera Parasuta Worrell and Suta Worrell (Squamata: Elapidae), with a description of a new species from the Pilbara, Western Australia. Zootaxa 4778(1): 1-47 [35]

Storr, G.M. 1981. The Denisonia gouldii species-group (Serpentes: Elapidae) in Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum 8: 501-515 (taxonomy)

 

Common Name References

Clayton, M., Wombey, J.C., Mason, I.J., Chesser, R.T. & Wells, A. 2006. CSIRO List of Australian Vertebrates: A Reference with Conservation Status. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing iv 162 pp. [45] (Mitchell's Short-tailed Snake)

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
25-Feb-2022	Hydrophiinae Fitzinger, 1843	10-Oct-2020	MODIFIED
25-Feb-2022	ELAPIDAE Boie, 1827	25-Sep-2020	MOVED
07-Feb-2024		26-Aug-2013	MODIFIED
08-Mar-2011		08-Mar-2011	MODIFIED
		12-Feb-2010	(import)